What are the most versatile powders to have around?

[only1asterisk]

Unique, Blue Dot and 2400 are all handgun/shotgun powders. They have very limited use in rifles.

If I read your question correctly, you want 5-7 powders for everything. My thinking is this:

A fast pistol powder: Bullseye, Red Dot, Clays, Green Dot, WST, AA#2

A medium-fast pistol powder: Win 231, HP-38, Unique, Universal

A medium-slow pistol powder: 800X, HS-6, N350, AA#7, Longshot, Blue Dot

A slow pistol/small rifle cartridge powder: L'il Gun, H-110, Win 296, H4227

A faster rifle powder: AA 1680, Reloader 7, H4198, IMR 3031

A moderate rifle powder: Reloader 15, Varget, Win 748, H4350

A slow rifle powder: Reloader 22, H4831, N165, AA 3100

These are just examples, not suggestions.

 

[redneck2]

I was going to copy a burn rate chart, but it's over 100 lines long.

There's a real good one at http://www.stevespages.com. Go into the "reloading" section and look under #3 in "data". It's kinda easy to use because the powders that are similar are color coded into sections.

There's also tons of good info on everything firearms and reloading related. You'll see why the above post has the powders that are listed.

Ones that I think are particularly useful but have goofy numbers are the IMR powders. I never could figure out any rhyme or reason to the numbering system

 

[Lancer]

Hodgdon's Titegroup for my .38, .357, .44 Spl, .44 Mag and .45 ACP.
Hodgdon H4895 or IMR 4895 for my .223 and .30-06.

 

[Mule]

I am loading for eight, so I try to keep it simple.

I load for myself, my ever indulgent Bride, two daughters, the father of my grandchild and three sons.

TiteGroup- 9's, 38's, 45's and .380

AA4350- .30-06, .270 Win, .243 Win, 7mm SAUM

AA2200- .30-30, .223 Rem, .308Win, 7.62 X39
my last jug is almost depleted and this surplus powder is no longer
available. Thinking about going to milsurp 4895. Open to suggestions.

REX-1- 12 gauge 7/8 oz & 1 oz

REX-2 12 gauge 1 1/8 oz and 9mm & 38 cast bullet loads

AA 5744- 45-70 Springfield

My collection includes other powders, but when it is time to make ammo, I use the powders I have confidence in.

 

[tube_ee]

only1asterisk -

What prompted your choice of categories? I'm a pretty inexperienced reloader (2000 - 2500 38 specials and 4 boxes of shotgun shells), but at least in a 357 magnum revolver, I'd lose the medium-fast pistol powder and add a slow pistol powder. The medium fast powders don't look like they do much the faster ones don't, while that's not true of a medium-slow and a slow.

Would a brass-chucker fan see this differently? Or do I just see it wrong?

--Shannon

 

[only1asterisk]

I was just trying help answer the question. As I understand it, epijunkie67 wants 5-7 powders to load the widest variety of cartridges, not just for magnum revolvers. The medium-fast powders are of great utility. Winchester 231 is good example.
You are right about faster powders being useful in smaller cases. Many times you can't squeeze enough slow powder into the case to bring it up to pressure.

David

 

[tube_ee]

Hope I didn't come off wrong...

I was actually wondering what the practical differences were between "fast" and "medium fast" pistol powders, other than a grain or so of powder. My mention of the 38/357 was only because that's the only handgun I reload for. Not trying to limit the discussion at all, just using a frame of reference I'm familiar with to ask my question. It seemed to me that your list (quite comprehesive, BTW) sacrificed a full magnum revolver powder for the medium-fast pistol powder, and was wondering what factors motivated that choice.

Sorry if that didn't come across the first time.

--Shannon

 

[only1asterisk]

It just comes down to the exact application. Let's say I want to load for a 38 Super and I want to keep to SAAMI standards. A medium-fast powder might give me an extra 75-100fps or more over a really fast powder.

But just picking a powder based on burn rate is oversimplifying things. Some powders need to operate in limited pressure ranges. Some powders are very dense, some are bulky. Some powders don’t meter well because of their shape. Some are sensitive to cold. Some produce impressive fireballs, others hardly any flash at all. Some don’t work well with cast bullets. Low powders don’t burn very cleanly at low pressure, some are just dirty.

For every application the may be 1, 2 or 3 powders that are perfect, 6 more that will be close as well and 10 that kinda, sorta work. The trick is to find powders that work for as many of your specific uses as possible without falling into that last category.


David

 

[nvshooter]

Powders

For my .357s and .45s, I use Accurate Number 5.
For my .223s , I used Accurate 2200 Data Powder but I'm running low on that and so have switched to BL-C(2).
My big, ugly, bench rifle gets only H4831SC whether it likes it or not.

 

[Lancer]

nvshooter, I was looking at your tagline. Can you imagine what WW2 would have been like with the anti-American lame stream media whores today?

 

[jondar]

epijunkie67,
I agree with your choice of powders. I am not familiar with the Reloader, as having never used it. In twenty years reloading pistol cartridges I have used only Bullseye, Unique and 2400. Bullseye for light-medium loads, Unique for medium to heavy and 2400 for the heavy to magnum loads. All three burn cleanly and my .45 ACP loads using Bullseye never result in the "sooty" appearance of the barrell after using Wolf and some other factory ammo. As to rifles, mine range from .220 Swift to .30-06 and I use IMR 4064 for all. It keeps it simple. Hope this helps.

 

[moxie]

Ditto what Jondar said. I only reload for handguns, and use Bullseye, Unique and 2400 exclusively. There's nothing they can't do. Lots of load data out there for these powders. They are consistent over time and available about anywhere.

 

[wolf_from_wv]

Unique: .45 ACP, .45 Colt, 9mm, .380, 12 gauge
got 4-5 empty bottles of it, 1 partially full
The Lyman book has Unique .222 loads for lead bullets.

IMR 3031: 22-250, .222

blue dot: haven't really used it

 

[griz]

If versatility was the main criteria, my powders would be:
Titegroup
Power Pistol
Lil Gun
4895
4350

That would cover most needs, but if you decided to load shotgun shells, the fastest magnums, 762X39, or the 22 Hornet you would probably want to add a few to the list.

Actually for the calibers you list your three powders are good choices.

 

[Vic303]

For pistol we swear by Bullseye and it meters well.
For rifle, you can find several stick powders that will do everything, (4895 imr and 4350 imr I think) and H335 does ok and it meters well as a ball powder.

 

[jondar]

While visiting in the capital of El Salvador I was permitted to use a pistol and small bore rifle range which had all the modern conveniences. As a courtesy I offered to reload 500 .38 Special cartridges for their courtesy in letting me use the range. Interestingly, the use of Bullseye was banned as a reloading powder. I told them I used a lot of it back home. They said yes, it was a good powder, but they had too many double charges occur and now only used Unique.